NAME

DBM::Any - object-oriented interface to AnyDBM_File

SYNOPSIS

  BEGIN { 
    @AnyDBM_File::ISA = qw(DB_File GDBM_File SDBM_File);
  }
  use DBM::Any;

  $db = new DBM::Any($filename, $flags, $mode[, optional...]);

  $val = $db->get($key);

  $db->put($key, $val);

  $db->delete($key);

  if ($db->exists($key)) { ... }

  for my $k ($db->keys()) { ... }

  for my $v ($db->values()) { ... }

  while (($k, $v) = $db->each()) { ... }

  $db->close();

DESCRIPTION

DBM::Any provides an object-oriented complement to AnyDBM_File's tied interface. It was written because it didn't seem to exist on CPAN, and the author likes BerkeleyDB's object-oriented interface, but doesn't want to force people to get BerkeleyDB if they don't want.

The interface is a least common denominator among all available database types; it contains the basic elements for keeping a persistent hash on disk.

The methods should map fairly well to regular operations on hashes. Which is why I won't painstakingly document every method here; you should already know how to deal with hashes.

DBM::Any Objects should be considered opaque. Even if you know what sort of database is underneath, you're a very naughty person if you attempt to circumvent the prescribed intreface. :-)

BUGS

Currently only supports DB_File access to Sleepycat's Berkeley DB. I'd like to support BerkeleyDB.pm access as well. If there is an elegant solution to this, I need more time to figure it out.

The exists() method could be called on a database format which does not support a simple existence check. For these I use a heuristic, and attempt to retrieve the value associated with the key in question. If the value is defined, then we say it exists. Because of this, I advise against explicit storage

AUTHOR

Tony Monroe <tmonroe+perl@nog.net>

SEE ALSO

perl, AnyDBM_File